1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of providing location services in a mobile communication network, and more particularly to a method of providing location services by using messages defined in the institute of electrical and electronic engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard without any change irrespective of the state of a mobile station in a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) network.
2. Background of the Invention
The 802.16 WiMAX technology is a next-generation wireless broadband communication technology providing wide-area outdoor services with more extended functions and coverage than Wi-Fi, which is a wireless communication technology providing indoor services around a hot spot. While the coverage of Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) is about 30 to 200 m and the transmission rate thereof is no more than 4 to 11 Mbps, the coverage of WiMAX can be extended up to 10 km and its available transmission rate is 40 Mbps, which offers a substantial technical advantage.
With the development of mobile communication systems and the increase in subscribers, locations services have been provided, which inform the geographical location of a mobile communication terminal. The location services can be useful when there is a need for emergency calls, tracking illegal users or logistics management.
No method has been presented, which provides location services in a WiMAX network proposed as a next-generation wireless broadband communication technology. Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient method of providing location services.
Further, in a wireless broadband internet (WiBro) network similar to the WiMAX network, there have been attempts to provide location services by using a complicated procedure, including adding a media access control (C) message to messages defined in the WiMAX wireless standard (IEEE 802.16 standard).
Moreover, there is a problem in that when a mobile station is in an idle state, it is difficult to track the location of the mobile station.